Sony Online has announced an EQ/EQ2/EQOA -related podcast, where they can get the word out on their products and games. Sounded like a good idea, so I wandered over to iTunes and subscribed.

Immediately, I saw a problem. The first podcast is listed as the ‘June 2006′ podcast. Guys, if you’re going to do this you’ve got to do it more than once a month. News within your company and community moves far too quickly for a once-a-month piece. Even bi-weekly would be better, but in four weeks (without further casts) I will have forgotten that you folks are even doing this.

I’ve listened to the podcast now, and while I found the content interesting, it quickly became obvious something was amiss. All … of … the … participants … talked … in … monotone. It was really, really hard to care about patch notes when everyone was obviously reading off of a prepared script. The only person on the ‘cast with obvious verve to her script was Saphira … who is the executive producer of EQOA. Despite the interest in the reader’s voice, I couldn’t get up much interest in the content. I just don’t pay attention to EQOA. Even Blackguard was obviously reading from a script, and this is a gent that I know can be creative with words.

My advice: Let the folks off the leash. Send them into the sound booth with a bare outline. These are smart people, they know their stuff. They’re not going to have to reach to know what the content additions are, as long as they can be prompted. By talking off the cuff they can give real interest to the listener, and let their passion for what they do show through. Podcasts are as much about personality as about content. Give us some anecdotes about the recent patch. Some funny dev stories from the last expansion. Anything.

You kept it short to begin with, which is great, but you can go 20-25 minutes before people are going to start to turn you off or get where they’re going. I think the average commute for an American is 27 minutes, so anything below that is gravy.

If you really want this to succeed, get a host. Grab a good-sounding intern, or someone who loves getting their personality out there, and turn them into the host for your little show. They don’t even have to say much. Just a quick intro, a precis on what will be on the show, and then some prompting questions to make sure that devs/producers/whoever say what you want them to say. The less rehearsed, the better.

Also, go beyond the official press release stuff. Give us some commentary on discussions from the forums (which not everyone reads), or let us know about a cool EQ-related project within the community. Make sure and put links to the discussed item in the show notes. Make it your job to expose us to more of the SOE world.

Above all, you guys have something no other podcast about your games can offer: firsthand knowlege of how the games are made, and how they’re actually played. Share some of that with us, and you’ll get lots of happy reviews on iTunes.